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EDUCATION AT THE WEST; 



CLAIMS ON THE CHURCH. 



DISCOURSE, 



DELIVERF.D BEFORE THE 



SOCIKTV FOK PROMOTING COLLEGIATE AND THEOLOGICAL 

EDUCATION AT THE WEST, IN THE CENTRAL CHURCH, 

NEW HAVEN, OCTOBER 26, 1848, 




J. B. CONDIT, 

Pastor of the SecijiKl Presbyterian Cliurcli, Newark, New Jersey. 



NEW l^ORK: 
M . W . D O D D , PUBLISHER 

I'riek Cliurcli Cliapel, opposite the City Hall. 

1 849. 



EDUCATION AT THE WEST; 



CLAIMS ON THE CHURCH. 



DISCOURSE, 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING COLLEGIATE AND THEOLOGICAL 

EDUCATION AT THE WEST, IN THE CENTRAL CHURCH, 

NEW HAVEN, OCTOBER 26, 18-18, 

J 



P'^^A 



J? B^ CONDIT, 

Pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, Newark, New Jersey. 




NEW YORK: 
M: W. DODD, PUBLISHER, 

Brick Church Chapel, opposite the City Hall. 

1849. 



^& 



" Resolved, That the thanks of this Board be communicated to the Rev. 
Dr. CoNDiT, for his able and instructive Discourse, delivered last evening, 
and that he be requested to furnish a copy of the same for publication." 

An extract from the Minutes of the proceedings of the Directors of the 
Society for the Promotion of Collegiate and Theological Education at tlie 
West, at their Annual Meeting at New Haven, Oct. 26, 1848. 

ASA D. SMITH, Secretary. 



DISCOURSE. 



1 Cheon. xii., 32. — And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had 
understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do. 

This was the language by which the children of 
Issachar were distinguished among the tribes gathered 
at Hebron to make David king over all Israel. They 
did not send a large representation to this great con- 
vention, yet they were unanimous and influential in 
this movement. They had led a quiet life in their 
tents, and had not mingled much in public affairs, yet 
they had been careful observers of the politics of the 
nation, of the temper of the people and of the tenden- 
cies of the times, and therefore were prepared to exert 
an important influence at this interesting juncture. 
They may have been distinguished in other things, 
especially in their attention to religious observances ; 
for it was said of them, that they should call the peo- 
ple to the mountain, and there offer sacrifices of right- 
eousness ; but the distinction here noted is, that they 
had understanding of the times, to know what Israel 
ought to do. They so appreciated the circumstances 
of the people and the indications of Providence, as to 
discern clearly what was their present duty. 

It is happy for the world when God raises up men 
who understand their own age ; who can see the work 



6 

to be done, and grasp it with an intelligent and earnest 
mind. This feature of Providence is most evident in 
connection, with some great crisis. There are times 
in the progress of a people when things are shaken 
out of place ; when the machinery of the State is 
broken, and there is spread over all minds the appre- 
hension of fearful disasters. Amid that quaking of 
hearts, as if on the border of ruin, God prepares men 
who, enthroned in a serene moral elevation, can take 
a calm and enlarged view of the distracted scene, pour 
light on the surrounding darkness, concentrate divided 
and fainting energies, and, throwing the power of hope 
into despairing hearts, conduct the people in the path 
of safety. Such were the men called to act in our 
struggle for liberty. Undismayed amid the conflicting 
elements, with an eye which clearly saw the truth, 
with a character which inspired confidence, and an 
eloquence which carried conviction to the hearts of 
the people, they met successfully the responsibilities 
of the period. Not less marked has been the hand of 
God when the Church has come to a point of solemn 
extremity, and men have appeared, as if divinely 
trained to meet the " awful moment to which Heaven 
has joined great issues," who have stood forth the 
successful defenders of truth and righteousness. 

But it is only now and then we meet a great crisis, 
where there is a mighty rushing of the cross currents 
of mind, and all that is dear to us depends on a single 
blow struck at the right time. It is not the part of 
wisdom to attempt to find a crisis in every new devel- 
opment of circumstances in our position, for the pur- 



pose of giving force to our plea for help. Such is the 
nature of the path in which God is leading us, that we 
do not need a crisis to create a deep sense of respon- 
sibility, or to show us the importance of understand- 
ing the times in which we live and what we ought to 
do. It is a new path, in every step of it full of won- 
ders and beset with perils, so that intelligent, earnest, 
and well-considered action is always demanded. 

On the present occasion we are called to consider 
our duty in respect to the western portion of this 
country. In deciding what the Church ought to do 
in that field, we need not claim any superior wisdom 
or understanding. It is not easy to mistake the indi- 
cations of Providence. We are not to forget that 
there are different, though not conflicting departments 
of eflbrt inviting our energies ; that while the interests 
of mind are no where more immediately suspended 
on what is done, there is need of wisdom in the ap- 
phcation of our means ; having reference not merely 
to present, but to lasting results. We are not only to 
sow the seed bountifully, but in such a way that it will 
produce, if not the most speedy, yet at length the 
most abundant and permanent harvest. But while 
caution and forethought are requisite, there are cir- 
cumstances which sufficiently indicate the kind of 
work now to be done. 

W^e might better understand this subject if we had 
compassed and surveyed the whole field. I wish it 
had been my privilege to go through it in its length 
and breadth, to trace its mighty rivers, to traverse its 
mountains and (alleys, to visit the homes of its popu- 



8 

lation, to mingle with its eager multitude pressing into 
the wilderness, and thus to take with my own eyes 
the dimensions of its moral wants — its ignorance, er- 
ror and vice. Not having done this, I shall be guided 
by the map which actual observers have sketched, 
and resort to those well-settled principles and facts 
from which it is safe to reason. What then does an 
intelligent view of our condition and relations show to 
be the duty of the Church to that western land at the 
present time ? In answering this question, I shall 
shall suggest some considerations which indicate the 
duty of the Church to aid efficiently in the work of 
Christian education at the West. 

This work comprehends all that is requisite for the 
permanent establishment of those higher institutions 
of learning pervaded by Christianity, which shall fur- 
nish really educated mind for the professional classes, 
and under the influence of which the educational spirit 
shall be awakened, and all the subordinate depart- 
ments of the system shall be thoroughly organized 
and supplied. These are not the institutions in which 
all the people will be educated, but we here assume 
that which will not be denied, that they are requisite 
to provide the best education for all the people. An 
educational system which has power and prevalence, 
must have certain elevated centres, whose office it is 
create a high standard of attainment, to lift mind up 
to its best efforts, and direct it in the career of health- 
ful enterprise. Before presenting the claims of this 
work on the Church, let me ask you to consider its 



importance and necessity in view of the interesting 
position of mind in this nation. 

I. The position which mind occupies in this coun- 
try gives special urgency to the claims of this cause. 
I might direct your attention simply to the value of 
mind, its capacities and its destiny, without regard to 
the place to which it is exalted in this nation. This 
consideration is always sufficient to commend the 
cause of education to our best sympathies and efforts. 
This gives weight to every other consideration — that 
it is mind we would educate, immortal, and appoint- 
ed to a fearful and wonderful progress. And this, 
whether that mind is roaming in the wilderness ; 
whether it is benighted and crushed under superstition, 
or is shooting up within the pale of Christian civiliza- 
tion. It is enough to show the importance of institu- 
tions, of libraries, and of all the appropriate means for 
the best development of intellect. 

But you are invited to consider the place which 
mind occupies, giving to the present time the appella- 
tion, the age of intellect. This its position is one in 
which the patriot and the Christian rejoice, however 
the duties it imposes may fail to be appreciated. It is 
evident if we compare the intellectual life and energy of 
the present age with the stagnant mind previous to the 
Reformation and revival of letters, when the domi- 
nant power of the priesthood and the throne trampled 
on its prerogatives. It is no less apparent if we 
compare it with the present condition of mind under 
the despotisms of the old world, under which genera- 
tions have lived and died slaves in intellect. Mind 



10 

has here taken the throne in poHtics, morals and 
rehgion. The day of its coronation is yet sacred in 
memory. It is free, sovereign mind, Hving, moving 
and speaking under God's charter of law, liberty and 
right; exercising its right of thought, faith and speech, 
in such relations as give it the supreme power. It 
occupies this exalted and responsible position in place 
of the poHtical despot whose law is force and arms ; 
and in place of the ecclesiastical dictator who takes 
into his custody, what Milton calls, the locks and 
keys of every man's religious warehouse, at whose 
bidding " the cruse of truth will run no more oil," 
and the lamp of heaven will give no more light. It 
is not hid in a cloister, but, ever active, it is working 
outwardly, making for itself ten thousand channels 
through all departments of society. It causes its 
voice to be heard and its power to be felt wide 
as the land, in respect to all human interests. It is 
thinking, planning, working — it may be often super- 
ficially or blindly ; perhaps nourishing itself by un- 
healthy aliment, and asserting its sway sometimes in 
language and measures which betoken its incapacity 
or perversion, but its action is every where seen and 
felt. The machinery of government^ the periodical 
press, the universal lecturer, all attest it. This age 
and nation are committed to the supremacy of mind 
on all questions touching the administration of the 
State, the development of society and the progress of 
truth. On every great question of common interest 
the nation is called to consider and act. It is an 
occasion for the use of the eloquence and talent of 



n 

those who are able to give the people light and guide 
their opinions. To the mind of the people the appea' 
is made through all the land. That mind utters its 
voice in a decision which no other power on earth 
can reverse, and which none dare to resist. What 
majesty in the movement, as the entire people take 
up the question, reason together, and then in the 
dignity of conscious right declare their will ! Though 
mind has found its home on the extreme border of 
our western settlements, looking out on regions upon 
which no impress of civilization is yet made, it is a 
portion of the sovereignty of the land, receiving the 
impulses which reach it in a thousand channels and 
sending back its influence to the heart of the nation. 
This national intellect is placed in circumstances 
which are adapted to nourish its vigor and give it the 
opportunity for great accomplishments. It is not yet 
determined that every portion of it shall be refined by 
cultivation and developed under Christian influences ; 
that it shall be taught to think and act according to its 
responsibilities, to stand erect in moral beauty and 
hold its sceptre true to righteousness ; but it is de- 
termined that it shall act with great and far-reaching 
power. It has received its commission to act in 
legislation and in morals on a broad scale. It carries 
that commission as it marches westward across the 
broad prairies and up the mighty rivers, with the 
feeling of pride in its supremacy. It is controlling a 
vast experiment in government and religion. It is 
fixing destinies too sacred to hang on the edicts of a 
reckless, unprincipled intellect. Our career is not 



12 

like an ancient race, in which muscular skill and 
energy were chiefly put in requisition. It is the 
race of mind, in which wisdom, intelligence and 
righteousness are especially demanded ; in the result 
of which we are to gain or lose a crown of moral 
glory. The promotion of our welfare as a nation is 
not dependent on the well-organized police, arrayed 
with flashing steel to awe the multitude. Mind holds 
the sceptre, protecting our rights, and settling great 
questions of order, morality and religion. It is the 
maker of law and yet subject to law. It possesses 
rights and privileges of which no power on earth 
can rob it ; while it bears responsibilities which are 
sacred in proportion to the value of those rights and 
privileges. Its sovereignty involves individual trust 
and advantage. Hence is derived the grand motive 
for qualifying every portion of mind to meet the 
requisitions of such a position. Hence also it ap- 
pears that the strength of that sovereignty lies not in 
the constitution which embodies its doctrines, nor in 
any roll of legislation, but in the conformity of mind 
to its invested trust. The growing mind of the West 
does not, by virtue of the endowment of sovereignty, 
acquire such a conformity. The reception of such a 
trust does not ensure a healthful social development. 
It does not beget the social and family virtues. Con- 
tiguity of mind is not of course the producer of civili- 
zation, morality and happiness. Neither is elevation 
the natural result of the extension of mind. 

I do not propose to present any estimate of the 
amount of ignorance already existing at the West, 



13 

which must be perpetuated and greatly augmented if 
the educational work is not liberally and systemati- 
cally prosecuted. The smallest estimate which any, 
acquainted with the subject, have made, is large 
enough to show that a great work is to be done 
for mind there to fit it for the position which it is 
called to occupy in this land. I do not stop to de- 
scribe, what has so often been done, its diversified 
types, arising from national origin and religious opin- 
ions. I would simply present it in its position and 
relations in this age of intellect and in this land of 
free institutions, that you may see it to be an agent 
which is earnestly to be cared for in the application 
of such a system of education as shall develop, mould 
and direct it in accordance with its high trust. It 
must thus appear, that to furnish the means for high 
intellectual and moral culture is our policy and our 
duty in what we do for the West. It is not neces- 
sary to determine what will be the result as to the 
character of western mind without such a s} stem of 
education ; whether it will sink into barbarism, or 
whether it will bow to the arm and dictation of a 
corrupt priesthood, trained, and at the same time 
trammelled by the hands of Jesuitical educators. 
Let its present position reveal to us the necessity of 
such Christian educational institutions as we propose 
to sustain at the West. Does not such a work ap- 
peal with urgent claims to the Church of Christ ? 
Let us consider, 

II. Some reasons why the Church should engage 
in it. 



14 

1. The work of Christian education is not incon- 
sistent with the office and design of the Church. We 
would assign to the Church no work which is incon- 
sistent with her nature and objects. Let her re- 
sources be held sacred to the aims and enterprises 
for which she was founded. It is easy to see that 
she is out of her appropriate sphere when she be- 
comes a competitor in the field of commercial enter- 
prise and of political strife, or adopts any mere 
secular scheme for her own aggrandizement. But it 
is not easy to see that she is out of it, when aiming 
to give to the intellect of a nation the blessings of a 
thorough Christian education. She is evidently false 
to her principles when she clothes herself in battle- 
armor and marches to the field of bloody strife for 
the propagation of the truth. But she is not false to 
her principles when she expends her resources to 
train up men who shall go forth, 

"Active and firm, to fight the bloodless fight 
Of science, freedom and the truth in Christ." 

She is not doing her appropriate work when she is 
employed in setting up earthly thrones, and putting 
crowns on the heads of kings. But why is it not her 
office to do something to enthrone mind in the empire 
of knowledge, and, by the combined influence of 
Christianity and learning,, crown it with a glory in- 
finitely richer than the diadems of kings ? 

The Church is ordained to be the instrument of 
conferring the best blessings on man, both for this life 



15 

and that which is to come. She would not be true 
to her mission if she did not seek to put mind in the 
best position for receiving, defending and spreading 
the truth ; calhng out its energies and fitting it, by all 
possible aids, for the noblest sphere of action. An 
ancient writer called Greece " the salt of the na- 
tions." This was said of Greece because it abounded 
in learning and wisdom. By the light of science it 
scattered ignorance and darkness. It was a fountain 
of knowledge to which many resorted from surround- 
ing countries, and its streams of intellectual benefit 
were sent forth far and wide. We understand the 
words of Christ in a far higher sense, when he said of 
his people, " Ye are the salt of the earth." It could 
only be said of Greece, its letters and arts bless sur- 
rounding nations. It sheds abroad the light of a 
refined philosophy, and furnishes the objects and 
rewards of an earthly ambition. It could teach no 
lessons that would purify man's moral nature. But 
the Church is the salt of the earth, especially, as she 
dispenses lessons of Divine truth, and is the source of 
that light which guides, and that power which elevates 
to holiness and heaven. Yet how fit that she should 
seek to unite intellectual elevation with moral purity, 
and how beautiful the union ! She has no affinity for 
ignorance. Her doctrines are addressed to faith, but 
not less to minds that have been taught to think and 
reason. She rejoices in the light, and remonstrates 
against the efforts of any who would keep intellect in 
bondage and darkness. Adopting the principle, " that 
the soul be without knowledge, it is not good ;" she 



16 

goes to the Indian and the Hottentot with the knowl- 
edge necessary both for this hfe and the next, that she 
may raise them from their degradation and darkness. 
Why is it not her becoming work to plant in this land 
those seats of Christian learning which shall qualify 
the people for their high responsibilities ? 

2. This work should enhst the energies of the 
Church, that a system of education may not be 
established destitute of Christianity. The work of 
education will go on at the West ; but shall the re- 
ligion of the Bible be excluded ? Is intellect to be 
educated without Christian influence ? Consider the 
blessed agency of a pure Christianity in fitting mind 
for its best exercise, and in counteracting that which 
would pervert its energy. All that it is in its lofty 
themes, in its relations to human character and des- 
tiny, in its moral efficacy, is adapted to awaken and 
elevate the intellect. Not its least important agency 
is through the light which it sheds on the dignity, 
relations and destiny of mind. Without it man does 
not understand his obligation in the use of his powers, 
for he does not appreciate them in the light of his re- 
lations to God and immortality. He needs habitually 
to feel this great truth, that mind shall not only live 
forever, while matter shall decay and these worlds 
vanish, but that it was made, through all its duration, 
to glorify God. Then it rises to a true conscious- 
ness of its solemn trust and destiny. Hence only can 
it derive the inward force and controlling principle 
which will direct it in the career of noble achieve- 
ment. This result occurs where Christianity has had 



17 

the opportunity to reach man with its clear and 
forcible lessons. You see its power in the mental 
discipline as well as moral purity which attends the 
strict observance of its precepts. You see it in the 
incitement it imparts to thought, and in the control it 
takes of the mental powers in the pursuit of truth ; 
preventing their abuse in fruitless speculation, yet 
urging them onward in the only path of safe progress. 
You see it in the healthful enlargement and elevation 
of mind under the sweet, silent influence of the Sab- 
bath and other Christian institutions. In whatever 
light you contemplate the power of Christianity over 
the human intellect ; whether in its lofty subjects of 
thought, in the eternity of existence it reveals, in the 
laws it gives for the use of the mental faculties, or in 
the elevating influence of its institutions, it works 
efficiently for the bringing out and right direction of 
that intellect. It puts it in possession of the princi- 
ples which lie at the foundation of human happiness, 
and teaches it to carry them out in action for the 
good of the race. 

Let Christianity be made to pervade a literary in- 
stitution ; let the minds there associated come every 
day under the influence of its holy truths, and you 
will have a striking example of its power, as it there 
holds up the relations of each individual to his Maker ; 
the eternal laws of heaven for securing right and 
happiness ; the essential principles of moral obliga- 
tion ; and those motives to action, which are no 
where found but in the glorious revelations of the 
gospel. Can a source of power be found hke this to 
2 



18 

prevent the waste of mind and beget a firm, manly 
purpose of life ? It may check an excessive, unhal- 
lowed ambition, but it supplies more appropriate and 
efficient incitements than the objects of such an am- 
bition — springs of the noblest aspirations of youth in 
the pursuit of knowledge. It may quench " the hectic 
of imagined superiority" in some, but there is im- 
mense benefit in bringing them down to be seekers of 
knowledge with the spirit of reverence and humility. 
What knowledge of self, what knowledge of man, 
what enlarged views of the capacity and range of 
mind as well as of its responsibilities, are obtained 
only under the influence of Christian truth ! It is the 
doctrine of Cicero, that the contemplation of celestial 
things will make a man think and speak more sub- 
limely when he descends to human affairs ; and there- 
fore he would have him attain skill in the nature of 
the heavenly bodies. How much more select and 
elevating the influence the mind will receive as it 
comes into communion with the sublime revelations 
of Christianity ! Says Coleridge, "An hour passed 
in sincere and earnest prayer, or in the conflict 
with, and the conquest over a single passion or a 
subtle bosom sin, will teach us more of thought, 
will more effectually awaken the faculty and form 
the habit of reflection, than a year's study in the 
schools without them." Thus, in view of all the 
purposes of education, religion is the benefactor of 
intellect, when enthroned in an institution of learn- 
ing ; when " the perfume of its offerings fills the 
atmosphere, when all human learning is accomphshed 



19 

with the spirit of devotion, when the recollection of 
our dependence and our duties is continually present 
with the effort to improve the faculties of the mind. 
Such an institution will indeed be an Alma Mater." 

But it is no less important that Christianity should 
pervade these higher institutions of learning, that it 
may sanctify the mighty agency which they exert in 
forming the social state. I shall not stop to show at 
length what this agency is, or how it operates. It is 
enough to know that the mind educated in these 
institutions will be the controlling mind in society — 
that by it, chiefly, the opinions and habits of society 
will be determined. This results from the nature and 
relations of the social state. Educated minds will 
occupy the posts of influence, and difluse their power. 
Colleges, therefore, are the high-places from which 
streams of influence descend and flow through the land. 
Shall not a pure Christianity be enthroned in them ? 

Social organization must have a basis and vitality 
other than a mere theory of association framed by the 
political economist. The element of vitality and 
progress is not found in conventional laws. It is an 
easy thing, according to a theory, to distribute the dif- 
ferent orders of society, and assign relative places 
and duties. But what shall fit each portion to its 
place and its duties ? What shall mould those asso- 
ciated minds into uniformity in opinions, habits, and 
aims ? What shall bind them into sympathy with one 
another, and furnish the permanent motives to united 
action and enterprise ? Long and varied experiments 
have tended to fix the confidence of all reasonable 



20 

men in Christianity as the moulding, transforming, 
and harmonizing power of society. It comes with no 
finely-constructed theory, supposing it has the guar- 
anty of success when it has induced men to subscribe to 
it. It comes with a penetrating power that goes down 
into the elements of character, affecting the principles, 
purposes and hopes of the people. It takes posses- 
sion of the sources of social influence, in the family 
organization, in literature, in commercial enterprise, 
to purify and elevate them. Secure an intelligent 
recognition of the will of God, and you have es- 
tablished that supreme law which alone is capable 
of regulating and binding together diverse and con- 
flicting elements. This teaches how to harmonize 
the personal and the common good. Then under 
the power of blended principle and interest, the social 
mind developes in order, according to the law of right- 
eousness and love, and not according to caprice and 
passion. Then with its growth and expansion it is 
directed towards right ends. It is not prepared for 
great achievements by the mere possession of equalized 
rights, but only when the enjoyment of those rights is 
secured by an intelligent fear of God, which controls 
its energies and projects. Man thus endowed with 
" equitable freedom," and educated to regard the divine 
will, attains his proper position in the social structure. 
Then he understands the true idea of progress, not as 
consisting in the breaking up of orders and relations 
which God has established in conformity to the ne- 
cessities of our nature, but in the development of en- 
.ergy and character, opinions and aims, in accordance 



21 

with God's system. Then he falls in with the divine 
plan which recognizes the universality of human de- 
pravity and the efficacy of the Gospel remedy. Then 
he comes into sympathy with his fellow-men in obe- 
dience to the law of Christian love, and conforms to 
the divine standard in his views of individual and so- 
cial responsibility. 

Now it is a task worthy of the best counsels and 
labors of a generation, to put western mind in such a 
process of development — to penetrate all portions of 
it with the great organizing power — to imbue it with 
the manly, yet genial sentiments of the Pilgrim fathers, 
and establish it on the tried foundations which they 
planted. In doing this, one essential agency is edu- 
cation. It must be that education which combines 
with sound learning the principles and precepts of 
Christianity. It must be that which recognizes the 
truth that intellect is not the whole of man — that the 
sovereignty of enfranchised intellect without religious 
principle, will be a reign of terror. Intellect cannot 
sway depraved passions, but the passions will sway 
the intellect. SensuaHty does not acknowledge the 
force of an intellectual edict. The spirit of treachery 
does not retreat before great mental energy, but unites 
with the highest intelligence. 

The work of education, I have said, will go on at 
the West, if the Church does not engage in it. But 
will it be Christian education ? Will Christianity, its 
doctrines and precepts, be made to pervade the insti- 
tutions of learning which the State may establish ? 
Will Christ and the cross be taught in connection 



22 

with human science ? We have no reason to hope 
this. Shall the Church, then, hesitate to employ this 
instrument of. power over western mind ? How can 
she hope to do the work of Christian civihzation on 
that field, if she must meet every where the counter- 
acting agency of a system of education void of Chris- 
tianity ? 

3. The duty of the Church is plain in view of the 
necessity of an educated Christian ministry for the 
West. 

The Christian ministry is the great instrumentality 
for the evangelization of the world. This was deter- 
mined by the Head of the Church in the charter which 
he gave for this enterprise. As that charter will not 
expire till the earth shall be full of the knowledge of 
the Lord, this will remain the chief agency of the 
Church. When Christ established it, the universal 
mind was perverted and corrupted by deeply-rooted 
errors. It was not a matter of small moment in what 
way his servants should engage in the work of con- 
verting it to the truth. It was not a thing of hap- 
hazard, when he looked over the field, and determined 
to send the living heralds up and down the highways 
of the nations. It was not an undesigned phraseology, 
when he said. Go, preach my Gospel. His eye looked 
beyond that age. It surveyed coming ages and all 
conditions of mind, till his name should be known 
over the whole earth. 

Let it not be forgotten, too, that the history of the 
Church is one unbroken testimony to the fact, that 
God has selected the power of the pulpit for bringing 



23 

the Gospel to act on the world. We have only to 
recall apostolic preaching in connection with apostolic 
triumphs, the preaching and achievements of the Re- 
formation, Puritan preaching and success, the Scottish 
pulpit and its results, in the intelligence and piety of 
Scotland. The progress of the Church in this country, 
ever since her foundations were laid, is identified with 
the pulpit. Now the Church, in accordance with the 
voice of her past history, looking out on the field to 
be cultivated, calls for living preachers to do her work. 
For no field is this agency more imperiously demand- 
ed than for that at the West. Take counsel on this 
subject from the character and habits of western mind? 
its Avay of thinking and acting, its prejudices, errors, 
and dangers. Take counsel from experience, from 
economy, from the nature and extent of the work to 
be done, and you will select the Christian ministry as 
the leading instrumentality for the salvation of that 
country. We should so decide without reference to 
the peculiar circumstances of the West, in view of 
the palpable evidences of the power of the pulpit in 
establishing and extending truth and righteousness. 
Trace its results at any given point for the space 
of fifty years. The number of souls converted 
and prepared for heaven does not reveal the whole 
truth. We shall find the power of that pulpit inter- 
woven with the progress of mind, of education and 
morals ; with domestic purity and order ; in one word, 
with the whole social prosperity and elevation of the 
people. Then we should have confirmation of the 
truth of the remark, "The Christian ministry has 



24 

taught the Christian world, and is now more effectu- 
ally employed than any other class of men, in mould- 
ing the common mind." There we should see, too, 
that though the prophets die, there is a precious sense 
in which they live forever. They live in the minds 
they have trained in the knowledge of God. They 
live in the opinions, the habits, the piety of the peo- 
ple. The ground teems with the monuments of their 
influence, which is incorporated with the successive 
generations of mind. 

And what must that ministry be, which can do the 
work in the western field? May it be only that 
which will satisfy ignorance, and acquires its reputa- 
tion by denouncing the hireling? or that which can 
obtain a hearing, simply because there is no other ? 
If, where society is organized under the influences of 
Christianity, such a ministry would be rejected as 
incompetent, most certainly where the process of or- 
ganization is yet to be accomplished amid such dis- 
cordant elements as are found at the West, no tame 
or feeble ministry will meet the necessity. If the 
strong, bold, wakeful ministry is needed any where, it 
is needed there, to educate mind in a right faith, amid 
bold advocates of captivating errors, and hold it fixed 
to the truth, amid its chafings, struggles, and wander- 
ings. 

This being the grand agency for the evangelization 
of the West, I now add, such a ministry ought as 
soon as possible to be educated on the ground. We 
cannot wait till this can be done to the full extent of 
the necessity. The field is extending so rapidly that 



25 

a ministry from the East, as numerous as she can 
spare, must for a long time be furnished. But who 
does not see that this supply must come far short of 
the growing wants of the people ? And who does not 
also see that a native ministry is greatly desirable 
for that land ? It should be composed of the sons of 
the West, trained up amid its natural scenery, breath- 
ing its air, communing with its forests and its prairies, 
sympathizing with its struggles and its hopes, and 
committed to its destinies. This is the ministry that 
will find most ready access to the people, and most 
successfully go through the trials incident to the 
work. 

And how shall the Church prepare such a ministry ? 
The institutions of learning must be on the ground. 
They must be in their furniture and resources, what 
is demanded by the object to be attained — the 
thorough education of mind. They are wanted in the 
midst of the people, if for nothing else, to spread that 
silent, but mighty and far-reaching power which ever 
goes out from such institutions, to awaken and ele- 
vate mind, and direct its progress in all the arts of 
civilization. They are wanted, if for nothing else, to 
furnish a controlling, educated mind for all the learned 
professions, by which shall be promoted the spread 
of intelligence, and the building up of the whole edu- 
cational interest. But they are needed especially for 
the training of a Christian ministry. Without them, 
how will the Church prepare such a ministry for that 
western land ? 

4. The results of what the Church has done in the 



26 

work of Christian education indicates her duty and 
policy in relation to the West. 

We need not review at this time the history of the 
Church, to show that she has been the patron of 
learning in the founding of schools — that she has 
counted it her province to give the people knowledge 
and educate mind for the defense and propagation of 
the truth. She early began this work ; in the sec- 
ond and succeeding centuries erecting schools at 
Alexandria, Csesarea, Antioch and other places, and 
establishing libraries at various points. Thus she 
prepared the means for her extension in the world. 
She has never resigned this trust. Not less in later 
than in primitive times, has she addressed herself 
successfully to the work of education. Your atten- 
tion is particularly directed to Avhat the Church has 
done in this land. The promotion of education in 
the establishment of the higher institutions of learn- 
ing was her policy from the first settlement of this 
country. There is " a law by which most incon- 
siderable moral agents and actions are made the in- 
cipient points whence trains of agencies, proceeding 
on with continual accession, enlarge into effects of 
immense magnitude." This remark has an illustra- 
tion in the early foundations of learning and Chris- 
tianity, which were laid by the wisdom, zeal and self- 
denial of our fathers. Some of the causes that early 
began to form the moral strength and beauty of New 
England, may have become " so diffused and blended 
into the general conformation of things, that their 
distinguishable color does not remain obvious." But 



27 

none will put among these our institutions of learning. 
They were, indeed, at first small beginnings, made 
with much difficulty and sacrifice. But if then they 
were little fountains, they have sent forth never- 
ceasing streams to bless the land. If, at first, they 
were sparks, they have become great central lights, 
shedding a broad and benignant radiance over the 
spreading mind. If they then seemed very incon- 
siderable agents, they have gathered a vast power, 
creating and sustaining trains of agencies, the results 
of which are yet accumulating in the selectest bless- 
ings to man. To them, through their silent power, 
and through the agencies of which they are the 
sources, we trace the noblest elements of our social 
happiness. The men who laid the foundations of 
these institutions had understanding of the times. 
With a far-reaching vision too they looked to coming 
times, to a people great and intelligent, sitting under 
the shadow of the trees which they planted, and re- 
joicing in their fruit. Were they not guided by the 
highest wisdom, when in our infancy they provided 
for the education of mind? Has not the policy of 
the Church in the East been proved to be the best 
policy? If the Church had now to begin such a 
work on new ground, looking to the establishment of 
her faith, to the promotion of intelligence, morality and 
piety, to the highest development of physical and 
mental resources, would she not begin as she did 
here ; lay at once the corner-stone of a college, 
raise its walls, gather for it a hbrary, put in it her 
ablest men as teachers, and consecrate all " to Christ 



28 

and the Church ?" Would she not think at once of 
the want of men quahfied to teach the growing popu- 
lation, and of learned, godly men to occupy the pulpit, 
and show the people the way of salvation ? This 
would be her plan, if she designed to make another 
community intelligent and virtuous, like that inhabit- 
ing these hills and valleys. 

And does the work to be done at the West essen- 
tially differ from this ? The condition of that country 
is not in all respects like our early state. Yet it is 
the peopling of a new territory, though far more 
rapidly. It is the laying of foundations for a vast 
social structure. If it was desirable here to have the 
incipient points of influence in these higher institu- 
tions of learning fixed at the very outset, it is even 
more desirable there, where communities are spring- 
ing up in a day, and the elements to be moulded are 
so various and powerful. The policy that has made 
the East will make the West, and no other will make 
it, intelligent, moral and happy. A college there, 
furnished with all the apparatus for thorough instruc- 
tion, can accomphsh the same work which the col- 
leges of the East have accompHshed. What shall 
prevent Hudson, Wabash or Illinois College from 
being the fountain of the same precious influences, 
by means of educated mind ? They were founded 
in faith and prayer for the same ends. They are 
Christian seminaries, consecrated to Christ from 
their foundations. They propose to pursue the 
same liberal and thorough course of instruction. 
They have a wide field in which to operate. A 



29 

great amount of mind is ready to receive their mould- 
ing power. God has given them signal blessings. 
They are planted at favorable points for impressing 
mind. You could not ask better soil than is there 
offered, in which to sow the seeds of truth. If in- 
tellectual and moral achievements are made slowly 
there, they may be made at length on a large scale. 
They who wield the educational power through such 
Christian institutions will witness such results as have 
appeared here. Does not the fruit of her past labors 
in the cause of education indicate the obligation of 
the Church to western mind ? 

The want of time forbids me to do little more than 
allude, in conclusion, to the importance of securing 
an accession to the power of the Church in the 
rightly educated mind of the West. If in the views 
presented in this discourse we have not misconceived 
the nature and results of the educational work, it is 
plain that if the Church will educate the West, she 
will gain the victory on that great battle-ground. As 
you look at the people in their growing numbers, in 
the broad land they cover, in the wealth of their soil, 
in their independence and self-reliance, and mark the 
wonderful destiny that awaits them, the momentous 
question is suggested, shall the Church take posses- 
sion of the energy of that mind for the defense of her 
principles and the diffusion of her blessings ? Shall 
that mind be imbued with Christianity, be educated 
under the reign of Christian institutions, and so link 
its power with the Church of Christ? Such an 



30 

accomplishment will not only be so much mind saved 
from ignorance and error, fitted for the enjoyment of 
social and political blessings, and presenting a spec- 
tacle of moral beauty ; but so much added to the 
executive power of the Church in her designs of love 
to the world. In the want of such an accomplish- 
ment, not only will so much mind be lost, but it will 
be committed against the efforts of the Church, with 
peculiar facihties for impeding her designs. What 
field can she enter with the prospect of a nobler, 
richer conquest ? 

That mind is gathering a power that will be felt. 
It will impress itself on the world for good or evil. 
It is nurtured under stirring influences. From it, 
institutions and opinions will receive strong impulses. 
The rivers will still run down their courses, the ever- 
lasting mountains will remain, but in the movement 
of this advancing intellect there is already felt the 
precursor of some fearful developments. You cannot 
crush this mind, you cannot sink it. It possesses the 
elements of life and power, of which you cannot rob 
it. To what shall its growing strength be devoted ? 
A correct appreciation of its position and destiny, 
points the Church to a golden opportunity of making 
the conquest of it for herself If over that land the 
blended light of science and Christianity shall shine, 
forming, guiding and enriching mind, so that it shall 
fulfill its trust in the State and in the Church, and 
reflect to the Pacific shore the moral beauty and 
glory of the East, coming generations will bless the 
hand of earnest charity, which aided thus early in the 
work of Christian education. 



